Edouard Daladier

Edouard Daladier (18 June 1884-10 October 1970) was Prime Minister of France from 31 January to 6 October 1933 (succeeding Joseph Paul-Boncour and preceding Albert Sarraut), from 30 January to 9 February 1934 (succeeding Camille Chautemps and preceding Gaston Doumergue), and from 10 April 1938 to 21 March 1940 (succeeding Leon Blum and preceding Paul Reynaud). A member of the Radical Party of France, he was the head of state of France when World War II broke out in 1939.

Biography
Edouard Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse, France on 18 June 1884, and he served in the Chamber of Deputies from 1919 to 1940 and the National Assembly from 1946 to 1958 as a member of the Radical Party of France. Daladier served as Minister of War and Defense from 1932 to 1934 and from 1936 to 1940, and he participated in fifteen cabinets, earning him a great degree of popularity. He served as Prime Minister in 1933 and 1934 before returning in 1938, and he was able to command a relatively solid parliamentary majority which enabled him to introduce a public works programme and, against bitter trade union opposition, an increased working week. He steered the Radical Party towards the right, away from the Popular Front, and he pursued a policy of appeasement with Nazi Germany and signed the Munich Agreement in 1938. He had to resign after ineffective and badly co-ordinated French efforts to help Finland during the Winter War, but he stayed on as Minister of War until the defeat, when he was imprisoned by the Vichy government. He was tried unsuccessfully at Riom and spent the last two years of the war in a German prison. After the war, he became again a leading influence within his party, but since its support had declined considerably, he was unable to join another ministry.